We wish to clearly reaffirm some basic principles: Violence is never, under any circumstance whatsoever, an appropriate or acceptable response to the peaceable exchange of ideas, however hateful or otherwise reprehensible they might be.

Penn can no longer claim to be doing all it can to be assembling the highest-quality class possible each year while drawing well more than half of its admittees from less than a sixth of the applicants. It is time to do away with Early Decision.

Although The Daily Pennsylvanian is a Penn-focused publication, we are acutely aware that the forces which shape what becomes news here on campus, like springtime snowstorms which disrupt classes, often originate elsewhere.

Next Tuesday, Irvine Auditorium will host a panel forum entitled “A Formidable Foe: Cancer in the 21st Century” as part of its David and Lyn Silfen University Forum series. While the forum will notably feature Penn President Amy Gutmann and former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the other panelists has stolen some of the spotlight by virtue of being embroiled in a lawsuit over discrimination against an Iraqi family.

In a widely-cited piece of compelling data journalism, The New York Times last month compiled a list of the 38 American colleges and universities that enroll more students from the top one percent of the U.S.

We commend the participants of these marches, but we implore students to use these protests as an opportunity to revisit issues on our own campus, to channel this level of intensity and energy into tangible fixes within our own community.

Although the University denied knowledge of any Penn staff being instructed to interfere with the protests, a FRES worker running the engine of a noisy maintenance vehicle at the site of one of the demonstrations said he had been instructed to drown out the protesters by someone from the University.

To foster a culture of productive dialogue among diverse voices on this campus, we must respect all opinions and be careful not to perpetuate the hate that has unfortunately penetrated this campus and the country at large this past week.